Vol. XVI. No. 389. 



THE AGJtICL'LTUKAL XEWb. 



s"> 



NOTES ON THE ANTIGUA AND ST. KITTS 

 CENTRAL FACTORIES. 



C)n the basis of the 1916 crop, the total capital cost of the 

 Company's property in St. Kitts works out at £15 8s. lOd. 

 per ton of sugar, a moderate figure for a factory fitted out 

 with such excellent plant, and with its own railway, pier 

 and sugar store. 



The following figures give the results for the year 

 1910:— 



1916. 

 Canes 101,24t< tons 



Sugar 11,591 



Sucrose in cane 12'84: 



„ „ megass 299 



Purity of juice 84'70 



Recovery of sucrose 8,557 



Yield of sugar 96 degrees 11 "44 



Price of sugar per ton £17 18s. \0d. 



After charging Fievenue with £18,000 for debenture 

 interest and sinking fund, additions, sinking fund and 

 railway extension loan, there remains a surplus of 

 £66,641 7s. to be allocated as follows; — 



The Original Contractors £33,320 13s. 6d., giving 

 a supplementary payment of 7s. S'ld. per ton of canes, 

 making a total of 24s. 3|(f. per ton. 



To 'A' Shareholders £33,320 13s. 6/.. bringing the 

 total at their credit to £39,352 lO.s 9(/., subject to liability 

 for Excess Profit Duty. 



The Directors recommend the payment of a divi- 

 dend of 2.«. per share, which will absorb £6,500, leaving 

 £32,852 10.*. 9tf. to be carried forward subject to Excess Piofit 

 Tax, as above stated, and Income Tax. After deduction of 

 the.<e charges, the balance, which is left meantime with the 

 Company for the purpose of finance, will be credited with 

 interest at 5 per cent, per annum. 



To Factory charges £2 4.«. Ifd. per ton sugar 



To Railway transport 8 7| 



To Admission charges 3 3| 



The Imperial Commissioner of Agriculture has been 

 furnished with the reports of the Chemists of the above- 

 mentioned factories for the week ending February 24. 1917. 

 From these the following figures have been extracted to 

 show the work that is being accomplished during the present 

 season. In considering these figures, pirticularly the 

 amount of canes ground, it must br remembered that the 

 factories had only just commenced operations for the 

 present season. 



At the Antigua factory sixty-six hours were 

 to stoppages. 



lost 



Antigua. 

 3,885 tons 

 31 „ 



Canes ground 



Canes per hour 



Total sugar niarle and in 



process 396 , 



Tons of cane per ton com- 

 mercial sugar I0'20 

 Sucrose per cent, of cane 12-38 

 Fibn- per cent, of cane 18'48 

 Moisture per cent, megass 4533 

 Juic;; extracted per cent, of cane 69*73 

 /Juice lost per cent, of fibre 3582 

 Per cent, of indicated sucrose in 



juice recovered 87'42 



St. Kitts. 



5,620 tons 



40-4 „ 



627 „ 



8-96 

 12-42 

 13-94 

 45-95 

 77-65 

 32-3 



90-55 



MANURING OF COCO-NUTS. 



The experiments in manuring bearing coco-nut palms 

 undertaken by the Porto Rico Agricultural Experi- 

 ment Station in l',U2 are being continued and are 

 said to be yielding valuable results. According to- 

 a recent report, while the application of fertilizers 

 re.sulted in but little increase in the yield of nuts auring 

 the first two years in which the experiments were in 

 progress, marked gains in yields have been recorded during 

 the past year (1915) for plots given a complete fertilizer; 

 that is, a mixture containing 6 per cent, nitrogen, 8 per cent, 

 phosphoric acid, and 12 percent, potash. Where lOBf). per 

 tree was applied, a gain of over 30 per cent, in yield of nuts 

 per tree over the checked plot was obtained, and where 20ib. 

 per tree of the same material was applied, a gain of nearly 

 60 per cent, was noted. Where nitrogen or potash was^ 

 omitted from the mixture, no increase in yield was recorded, 

 and where potash was omitted, there was only a slight, 

 increase. 



In connexion with the Porto Rican results given above, 

 the following results of manurial experiments conducted otL 

 coco-nuts at Pmneys estate in Nevis should prove of interest. 

 The first year s results, namely for 1914-15, were published 

 in the Ayrimituial News (Vol. XIV, No. 355, p. 398). The 

 following are the results obtained during the yiar 1915-16, 

 and they indicate very considerable increases from manurial 

 treatment It should be mentioned lint the estate is 

 situated on good soil — old sugar-cane land — near the coast on 

 the leeward side of Nevis. It is interesting to note that 

 unlike Porto Rican experiments, in thete, increased yields 

 were given from manuring even during the first j-ear. The 

 increases for last year are much greater, however. 



The manures were applied on October 7, 1915, and tb&- 

 experiment was brought to a clusi- on October 6, 1910. 



Once every month the plots were gone over aud the 

 fallen nuts counted and recorded, and the nuts collected. 



